


Valentine's Day Blues

by AnonIngram



Series: Short stories. [4]
Category: Nandroids
Genre: Alternate History, Botanical Inaccuracies, Evil Corporations, Happy Ending, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29445774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonIngram/pseuds/AnonIngram
Series: Short stories. [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2133069





	Valentine's Day Blues

The sun rose in the background, leaving a glare on the computer screen he worked on, coffee stains and empty energy drink cans littered the metal work desk, a yellowed coffee cup stood defiant in the morning sun, casting a shadow on the overworked man's face.  
"Jesus christ, why do I need to do this again?" Herbert cried out, Aria not answering him her cheeks puffed and cheek receptors grey as ash.  
"Master, if inventory is not cataloged it would hinder operations in the future." Sophia replied in a matter of fact tone, pouring Herbert a new cup of coffee into the same yellow stained cup.

"Why can't anyone else do this?" Massaging his temple, his dull nerves only increased the pain of the migraine he had.  
"Because you had them executed for being corporate spies three days ago, Master." Sophia reminded him in a bland tone.  
"Oh yea-" Herbert was quieted by Aria groaning.  
"Darling, what day is it today?"  
"Err, Stock market and inventory inspection day?" Herbert laughed nervously, only to get a death glare from Aria.  
"Anything else today?" A deep frown stretched the epoxy filled cracks in her face, turning red as her cheek receptors became blood moon red.

"50% off on Ice Cream day at the mess hall, master." Sophia replied for Herbert, finished with pouring his coffee, and setting it back down on a worn cork coaster. That answer wasn't satisfactory to Aria, as she slammed her fist into a weapons rack, denting the frame, sending all the expensive firearms clattering to the floor. She screamed out her frustration before storming out the door of the basement armory and factory of the manor.  
"Sophia, that joke might have been a bit overboard." Herbert remarked to her, as she had already begun cleaning up the weapons into a neat pile.  
"I do not understand what you could have done wrong, she might be having a malfunction, I hope it will not affect her combat prowess." Bending the weapon rack back into shape, checking for structural damage that might needed to be immediately repaired.  
"Something is bothering her, what day is it supposed to be today?" He asked feeling sleep grind a rock against his awareness in the back of his mind.

"Oh sorry, it's Valentines day. I didn't need a gift other than to be by your side, I figured you already were aware, as she talked about it a few days ago." Sophia replied in her usual socially deaf tone  
"What!?" He slammed his hands on the desk, knocking over cans onto the floor in the process.  
"Affirmative, it's today, Maste-" she never got her full answer out, before he ran out of the armory. After putting the last rifle where it belonged and picking up every can, Sophia followed after him, biting her lip in anger.

\---------------------------------------------

He was about to leave out of the manors Mahogany and Oak doors of the foyer, before his arm was grabbed by a nandroid with black skin and gold inlays in her indents and grooves.  
"Lord, leaving in such attire would be a detriment to your image." Sorority exclaimed looking at his coffee stained, unkempt, and generally disgusting white suit, now turned smoker beige.

"Huh? I'm in a hurry if you could unhand me, please." He tried to shake off the robot, but it was of no use.  
"Lord, seeing Aria leave in such a furious mood means only one thing, and that would mean you would head into the city, and I would not, could not, and will not let you make a mockery of yourself dressed like that. Now, let's get you changed, I have just the color for the occasion." She winked at him, her gold glitter eyes swirled as she helped him into the foyer dressing room.

\--------------------------------------------

He walked out in black striped pants, black vest, white and black two tone boots, black dress shirt, red tie, and red suit jacket.   
"What is this getup? I look like some wannabe action hero." He replied to her fashion sense, looking down at his attire.  
"I'll have you know, that get-up, has a 33.333% chance of helping smooth over relationships, or so Lyfe magazine says, anyway you look stunning, Lord." She danced around him, examining each thread on his outfit, making sure they were burnt, crimped, and generally not a nuisance to his overall look.  
"Is… that so?" He didn't know what to make of that statement, standing there feeling naked out of his usual white suit. 

"Affirmative, you do look rather tactically ready, maybe she will like it." Sophia replied from the doorway to the dressing room.  
"Glad you agree, now let's get romeo on his way." Sorority nodded, pushing Herbert towards Sophia.  
"But I don't know what to do." He replied as the two pushed him along.  
"Acknowledged, I think you'll do fine, Master." Sophia replied back, looking to the ground.  
"Take her on a date, we can take care of everything here." Sorority winked as she slammed shut the Mahogany doors behind him.   
"Great…" He scratched the back of his head, before heading to the garden. He stopped as the doors creaked open again behind him, Sophia stared at him, her mouth opened and closed like a fish before she frowned.  
"I'm sorry for earlier, Master."  
"It's fine, just apologize when she comes back." Her frown turned into a slight grin, nodding.

\---------------------------------------

He spotted her under the snow-ridden apple tree, her hand softly rubbing the patch of wood she ripped the bark off in a fit of angry depression. Most of the flowers had wilted for the winter, except some of the more native ones to the Appalachian landscape. His feet crunched in the snow as he approached her, trying to think of what he wanted to say.

"Aria, I-"  
"What took you so long?" She replied to the tree bark, cutting him off.  
"Well, I had to look my Sunday best, if I was going to take my wife out on a date." He ripped back in a sarcastic tone. She turned around to look at him with a smile on her face, before breaking out into laughter.  
"What are you wearing?" She replied in between fits of giggling.  
"They said you would like it…" He mumbled to himself, his cheeks going red with embarrassment.  
"What? Darling, it doesn't matter what you wear, I always will love you. Even if you forget important days… it's just odd seeing you wear something else than white." She replied hugging him, patting his har.  
"Now where are we going?"  
She oozed out, her chassis was warm in the freezing cold, he wanted to stay there forever, rocked to sleep like he used to be when he was little, but that mental bubble popped when his senses came back from the brink thanks to the glorious power of caffeine.

"Oh, I wanted to take you downtown to see the botanical gardens." He murmured as he tried to gather his thoughts.  
"Really? I always wanted to see the exotic plants they had." She beamed with excitement letting him go, her epoxy cracks and cheeks turned fire red.  
"Then madame, let us be off." He bowed holding out his hand.  
"W-Well… if you insist fine sir, I shall be glad to accompany you." She grabbed his hand, and soon they headed to the garage where a white limo was waiting to take them downtown.

\-------------------------------------------

He looked upon the large glass domes of the botanical gardens in the distance, containing all sorts of precious life collected from across the globe. The chilly wind blew frigid air as they made their way across the parking lot to the entrance, posters showcasing some kind of new plant caught their attention. He didn't understand it, but she seemed excited as they bought tickets. Walking into the rotunda, the cold disappeared, replaced by hot and humid air.   
"I'm glad to be at least warm again, I wasn't sure if I could take it anymore." He held his knees, fighting the need to faint from exhaustion.  
"Are you sure you'll be alright to continue?" She knelt at his side, rubbing his back.  
"Yeah, I'll be fine, I've suffered worse," He reassured her as he stood up, looking around at the selection of domes to enter. "Which one do you want to go to first?"  
"Tropical dome, it seems a normal step down from dry, frigid cold air." She took his arm and walked through the automatic doors.

Bright vibrant colors of pinks, oranges, purples, and blues covered the painted background of brown and green. Birds of all kinds called to each other from the branches of different species of trees and plants. Struck in awe as small plump, bright pink birds jumped around their feet, before disappearing into the brush, he was slowly getting to his wits end, taking all of his will power to stay awake, sleep stood over him like the grim reaper as he saw shadows dance and skitter behind each tree, whispering in Vietnamese.  
"It's so beautiful…" She whispered as she watched the small birds dance and flowers sway in the simulated wind.  
"Yeah, it's pretty nice." He gulped down a mouthful of spit trying to push down imaginary mucus.

They walked through the maze of plants, flowers, banana trees, crown of thorns, black pepper vines, rattlesnake trees, and several other plants he didn't know the names to. Watching small trains go in and out of tunnels and between plants as they had to deliver their cargo and passengers on time in an infinite loop. He saw passengers stick their hands out to a bird, he shook his head before they disappeared, returning to being normal plastic imitations of real people.

They finished looking around on time, or what felt like a long time, he can't remember. It was all fuzzy, but before long they stood in front of a door in bright yellow, labeling the next dome as "Swamp dome". The waft of rotting plant matter and high humidity hit him as they pushed the door open. Tall trees reached towards the glass panel sky, croaking of frogs, toads and calls of medium sized birds with long legs wading through high water filled the dome. She crouched down to watch a small frog look up at her, before it ripped some of its dead skin off its leg, proceeded to eat said skin, and hopped off into the water.   
"That was strange, but cute." She replied watching the water shimmer, as fish swam around just below the surface covered in algae, and lily pads.  
"Ye-yeah…" He grabbed hold of the railing as his feet nearly gave out as the caffeine began to wear off, he tried to play it off, as trying to get a better look at the fish.

"Did you see something good?"   
"No, just a Bullhead catfish."  
"Are you alright? Your face is red, and your eyes are sunken." Putting her hand to his forehead, he had a slight fever, but from all the caffeine he had ingested over the last three days, that might be the cause.  
"Don't push yourself too hard, I don't want you accidently falling into the water."  
"Yeah, I'm fine really." He didn't want to ruin this, all he had to do was finish up here, and he could go home and sleep like death. Tapping into whatever he had left, he forced himself up, cracking his knees in the process.  
"Let's look around, I hear there's a rest dome next, so we can rest there." He reassured her, taking her hand to lead.

The trees had all different kinds of birds, some large, some small, a really tiny, fat one squeaked at them angrily as it carried it's small clutch of blue eggs on its back into a hole in the boardwalk. At the center of this dome was a giant colony of Venus fly traps, with flies and birds buzzing around it, trying to collect the sweet dew it's mouths formed. Birds drank the dew with their long beaks safe from harm, while flies became trapped inside the jaws, after trying to eat the sweet nectar, they tried to get out, but that caused the mouths to close tighter sealing their doom.

"Wow, I only read about these, did you know they make good pest control?" Excited by the carnivorous plants devouring insects.  
"Really, does it keep reporters away?" She shook her head, at his terrible pun with a smile.  
"No helping you is there?" She fired back, as his fingers started to grow numb, tingling at the tips as if someone was sitting on them.   
"I guess not." He shrugged, arms feeling heavy.  
Having seen everything there was to offer in the current dome, they made their way to the next dome, a bright green sign labeling the next area as, "Rest Dome". 

\-----------------------------------------

Inside of the near empty dome, were native pine trees, displays showing the different species, and how you can tell how old a tree was, educational things for kids and school field trips. He didn't have the energy to read any of them, his neck was killing him as he tried to crack it, plopping down on the hard stone bench, it started relieving his worries and swollen feet. He yawned while she was off getting some cinnamon rolls from a food stand built into a fountain located in the middle of the dome, some birds swarmed around, trying to eat food scraps and wash themselves in the fountain. His eyes burnt as he tried to force himself forward, which was getting harder and harder. All he heard was the sounds of the birds calling to each other, and the vents blowing a gentle breeze. He took it all in, as he closed his eyes, just for a moment. 

"Here, I didn't know if you wanted chocolate or vanilla, so I got both of them." He jolted awake turning around, Aria held two large cinnamon rolls in her hands, he took his and looked at the hot creme covered pastry. Taking slow bites out of it, it was delicious the cinnamon complimented the savory vanilla creme, while it amplified the chocolate one. It was like a warm glass of milk before bed. No. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the thought.

"Arr yo alright?" She asked with a mouthful of pastry.  
"Yeah, yeah… just thinking how good this is." He nodded with a poker face, before eating the rest of his pastry. It didn't help, the warmth spread through his body from his stomach, soothing his aching bones, and screaming muscles. His eyes watered as he sat there, watching the evening sky overhead through the glass panels.   
"This feels great…" he whispered, slowly slumping over onto her shoulder, she stopped eating, to grin at him.  
"Aria, I think this... a good spot for a rest…" His words swirled and slurred together as he slowly rolled off her shoulder, she adjusted herself, putting his head into her lap.  
"Yeah, take as long as you want." She brushed back his hair, throwing the remnants of her pastry to the ground for small orange and black birds to eat.  
"Sorr, for… ruining today." He yawned as his bloodshot eyes looked up at her.

"You didn't ruin anything, in fact…"  
She bent over and kissed him on the forehead, as he shut his eyes, finally succumbing to the exhaustion.

"It was the best Valentine's day, I ever had." 

\--------------------------------------------


End file.
